Los Angeles : Wildfires menacing Los Angeles have killed at least 10 people and devoured nearly 10,000 structures, with five fires burning into a third night on Thursday, as dry desert winds fanning the flames again gathered strength.
The Palisades Fire between Santa Monica and Malibu on the city’s western flank and the Eaton Fire in the east near Pasadena already rank as the most destructive in Los Angeles history, consuming more than 34,000 acres (13,750 hectares) – or some 53 square miles – turning entire neighborhoods to ash.
The death toll from the blazes rose to 10, Los Angeles County’s Medical Examiner said in an update late on Thursday, without providing identities or other details. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told an earlier press conference he expected the number to grow.”It looks like an atomic bomb dropped in these areas. I don’t expect good news, and we’re not looking forward to those numbers,” Luna said.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic loss at $135 billion to $150 billion, portending an arduous recovery and soaring homeowners’ insurance costs.
Southern California Edison said on Thursday it had received notices from insurance companies to preserve evidence related to the Eaton Fire, but said no fire agencies have pointed to the utility’s connection to the fire.
“We’re already looking ahead to aggressively rebuild the city of Los Angeles,” said Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, who faced criticism from President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans over her handling of the disaster.
Meanwhile Iran’s former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed sympathy with Californians over the raging fires, drawing parallels between the devastation wrought by the “wrath of nature” in California and that caused by the “savagery of Israel” in Gaza.Huge ongoing wildfires erupted in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in the area. The wildfires have so far resulted in at least ten fatalities and forced nearly 180,000 people to evacuate.
In a post on his X account on Friday, Zarif referred to “grim footage” coming out of California, comparing the scenes of wreckage to the aftermath of attacks on homes, schools, and hospitals in Gaza.He expressed solidarity with Californians who have “lost everything to the wrath of nature,” while noting that many in California have stood with Gazans who “lost everything to savagery of Israel.”Israel launched the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, after a retaliatory military operation by Gaza-based resistance fighters. The brutal war has so far killed 45,885 people, including 17,492 children, and left more than half of Gaza’s homes damaged or destroyed.
(Foreign Media)